Bingham Makes Big Bang

In one of the bigger stories to emerge from the summer prep hoops scene and if early reports are true, it appears that junior power forward Urbane Bingham has transferred from Birmingham Detroit Country Day to North Farmington. Bingham is one of the best young post players in the county and is a definite DI college prospect. Teamed with senior guard Kyle Vinales, arguably the area's most pure scorer, the Raiders are suddenly a serious contender in the OAA. Don't forget about Thurgood McCants either. He's an athletic role player who will be significantly helped by the edition of Bingham too. Because he lives in Farmington Hills, Bingham is slated to suit up in his new Raiders' digs at the start of the season, instead of having to sit out until mid-January, per the usual protocol with transfers. The big man's departure underlines the one problem with head coach, Kurt Keener's Yellowjackets program over at DCD, perennial blue chip factory. With all that talent at your disposal, sometimes long jams develop with regards to playing time and certain players end up feeling undervalued. Last year, Bingham saw limited minutes on a squad that including himself, had four DI bigs. Even though two of them are gone to graduation, if Bingham would have stayed at Country Day, he would have had to play second fiddle to his former classmate, the 6-9 Amir Williams, the most highly-touted post player in the state's junior recruiting class and incoming senior Ray McCallum, the number five ranked prep point guard in the whole country. In contrast, in coming over to North Farmington, Bingham automatically become his new team's number one option in the paint and the only target for Vinales when he wants to run the pick and role or drives the lane looking to dish.  I don't know about you, but upon hearing this news, I Immediately got jacked up to see the Raiders play this year. Whatever record they end up sporting aside, the newly-revamped North Far mington hoops squad will without a doubt be one of the more exciting teams to watch in 2010